


Mother Knows

by honooko



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-07
Updated: 2012-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-29 02:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honooko/pseuds/honooko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ninomiya Kazuko knows her son is special; she watches him grow and becomes even more sure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mother Knows

**Author's Note:**

> For Circe. <3 She asked for Ninomama + Ohmiya. Implied Ohmiya, obvs. Liberty was taken with the name of Nino's sister and the name of Ohno's mother.

When her son was born, Ninomiya Kazuko had looked at his tiny little face, all pink and pinched, and thought only, "I cannot wait to know who you are." Her daughter, still so small (but bigger every single day) leaned over the edge of the hospital bed to see her baby brother. She was clearly not impressed by him, but Kazuko let Kaori hold the baby anyway, showing her how to cradle his head and protect his fragile body.

"Mama," she said after only a few seconds. "Baby smells." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Laughing, Kazuko took him back.

"He's a baby," she said to her daughter. "Babies smell funny sometimes."

He yawned in her hold, and his mouth was suddenly so large it was comical. She tucked the blanket swaddling him a little bit tighter.

"Kazunari," she told him with a smile. "Your sister thinks you smell."

 

Every mother knows, with a firm and unshakable certainty, that their child is special and wonderful and a gift to the world. They also know that they think this largely because they are mothers, and mothers are not known for being objective in the analysis of their offspring. That said, she truly did feel that there was something special about her kids.

Kaori was smart; she learned to talk quickly and had a very no-nonsense attitude; at the age of six, she could read quite well and had shown a talent for bossing the other children in her class around. Interestingly, the other children tended to listen to her. Kazuko was fairly certain her daughter had impressive leadership potential.

Kazunari, on the other hand, was more of a quiet observer. He had an eye for people and he read their faces and moods easily. He was shy, but once he felt comfortable, he loved to do things that brought the attention back on him. He would sing or dance or tell jokes Kaori taught him. He was only four, but he already had a clear sense of what people expected from him.

The only thing that worried Kazuko was that Kazunari might feel like he had to be the person everyone was expecting, even if it wasn't what he wanted. Kazunari did as he was told, even if he didn't like it, because he disliked the fuss that came with refusing. She suspected her husband had a lot to do with this; Kazunari never disobeyed him but sometimes he obeyed with such an obvious level of annoyance that she'd have to be blind not to see how unhappy he was.

But her son also read her moods like a book. He knew when she was upset, and he knew that he had the power to calm her. Somehow, he always found her when she was frustrated or sad. He would climb into her lap and hug her, his skinny arms around her neck, and say softly, "It's okay, Mama. I love you, it's okay."

She would hug him back and tell him, "I love you too, Kazu."

 

The divorce really hit their family hard.

Kaori was eleven; she was already very independent and had a wide network of supportive friends at school to share her troubles with. It affected her, but she had more avenues to deal with it than her brother. Kazunari had friends too, but never as many as his sister. He was still such a shy child; he preferred to blend into a background and observe than be in the middle of things.

Kazunari was old enough to have a relative grasp on what was going on. Kazuko suspected that her father, Kazu's grandfather, had more than a few conversations with the boy about it. Kazu loved his grandfather and trusted him far, far more than he trusted his own father. She certainly couldn't blame him; his father was not a terribly trustworthy man. Charming, connected, talented with his work.

But not a man to trust.

The entire mess took two years to sort out completely. On the day that his father moved out, Kazunari stood by the front door in silence for a few minutes. Kazuko watched him from the hall, unsure of whether or not he needed comforting. But Kazu didn't seem upset. He seemed... like he was thinking.

And then he reached out and locked the door.

"Goodbye," he said, with as much seriousness as a child could muster.

She knew then that somehow, he would be okay.

 

Johnny's may have been his cousin's idea, but when the invitation to auditions came in the mail, Kazuko knew she had to make sure her son would be there. It wasn't just a chance to get out of the house and do things (he had baseball for that); it was a job. He could make money to save for college, meet older boys and adult men who could be good role models for him. And she knew that for all his protesting that he wasn't interested at all, someday he would come to love it.

The trick was making him go. She ended up bribing him with money, but he passed the audition and she felt it was worth every penny. Kazu started coming home with stories about things that happened and people he'd met. Kaori almost lost her mind with glee when he brought back a scrap of paper that had been signed by Kinki Kid's Koichi. Kazu was making friends with boys from all across the city, instead of the poor and often delinquent kids of their home neighborhood.

"Aiba-kun is an idiot," Kazu said one day as he walked through the kitchen door.

"Oh?" she said, not even pausing as she sliced carrots.

"He really is," Kazu said. "He walked into a door today."

"That's not stupid, that's just uncoordinated," Kazuko said, defending this Aiba-kun.

"He did it _twice_ ," Kazu said. "And it was the _same door._ "

"That is a little odd," she admitted.

"And his jokes are terrible," Nino continued. "I mean, really bad. Sometimes he gets so excited he tells it in the wrong order and completely ruins it. Or they're the kind of jokes you're not supposed to tell on a crowded train."

"And what kind of jokes would those be?" she asked with a smirk. Kazu paused, his ears turning pink as he realized he'd just admitted to being party to some dirty jokes.

"Um," he said vaguely, "stupid jokes. You know."

"Of course," she said graciously. "So are you going to see him tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Kazu said. "If I leave right after school we can take the same train. He lives in Chiba."

Over the course of the next few years, the names Kazu started repeating became consistent. Aiba, Matsujun, Sho, Subaru, Toma. She was thrilled he was making friends, and further thrilled each time she met one of them; they were all good kids, really good kids, and she couldn't have been prouder that her son was a part of their group.

Kazu really had great taste in friends.

 

When he was sixteen, Kazuko confirmed something she'd been suspecting for a few years: her son was not strictly heterosexual. He liked girls; she knew because she'd found more than one stash of porn in his room while looking for dirty socks. She always put it back where she found it and did her best not to shuffle through them or pry. She didn't want him to feel like he needed to hide things from her, but she did her best to respect his privacy.

But the confirmation didn't come from a dirty magazine or video hidden under his mattress. It came when Kazu debuted as Arashi with four of his friends. One day he came home looking completely and utterly distracted. Usually her son was very grounded, so seeing him space out on the couch was unusual.

Then his phone rang. He fumbled as he went to answer it and as soon as he saw the name on the caller ID, his face broke into a huge and telling smile. He headed for the stairs to go to his room, and she guessed a girlfriend.

"Hang on, Oh-chan," he said as he took the stairs two at a time. "Let me get upstairs."

Oh. Not a girlfriend, then. If Ohno wasn't a boyfriend, Kazu apparently wished he was. She tried to decide how she felt about it. Did it matter? Was it really any different if Kazu dated boys instead of girls? Socially, yes. It was dangerous for his safety and career. But personally? If he was happy, did it really change anything?

No. If he was happy, then everything was fine.

 

Kazu officially told her a few years later. He'd never brought anyone home, of either gender, but it suddenly was important to him to tell her the full truth. He'd sat down at the kitchen table with her while Kaori was out with her friends. He was nervous and fidgety, holding his hands fisted tightly on the top of the table.

She took his hands in both of hers and smiled at him, waiting.

"Mom?" he asked quietly. It was the same voice he'd used since he was small and scared, needing reassurance, support, and love. "What would you do—what would happen if I did something that really upset you?"

"That would depend on what it was," she said calmly. He bit his lip and stared at the tabletop, avoiding her eyes.

"What if I brought a girl home sometimes?" he asked.

"That would be nice," she said. "I'd like to meet her."

Kazu paused, and Kazuko could see him running over the words in his mind. He was afraid and started to chicken out on whatever confession he'd intended to give. She didn't want him to be scared of her, not ever. She squeezed his hands.

"Kazu," she said. "Just tell me."

"What if—what if I brought a boy home sometimes?" he said, voice wobbling.

"I'd like to meet him too," she said. Kazunari looked at her, searching her eyes to see if she understood what he meant. She smiled at him, as warmly as she knew how. _It's okay,_ she thought. _It's okay, Kazu._

He stood up from the table, coming around to her chair and hugging her from behind. He buried his face in her shoulder.

"I love you, Mom," he said.

"I love you too, silly," she said, turning around to kiss him on the forehead.

 

It took a few more years, but Kazu did eventually bring a boy home. She was not in the least bit surprised that it was Ohno Satoshi. This was partly because Kazu lacked any and all ability to be subtle about his unspeakable crush on the older boy, and partly because Kazuko had been meeting Satoshi’s mother for lunch every few weeks for the past year and a half. And if Kazuko thought Kazunari was ridiculous about Satoshi, Saya assured her that Satoshi was just as ridiculous in return.

That didn’t mean Kazuko wasn’t going to screw with his head a little, of course.

The plan was for Satoshi to join their family for dinner. Kaori ducked out at the last second when she received a better offer of a night in with her charming new boyfriend. (Kazuko had been worried about this guy at first; she’d warned her children against dating people they worked with, seeing as it had never worked out for her. Kaori had held so steadfastly to this rule that the man who asked her out transferred to another store just so she would finally agree. Kazu had completely ignored her advice, but having met his coworkers, she could understand why.)

"Whoops," she said as she was putting together the curry. "We’re short potatoes. Kazu, run down to the corner and get us some more."

"What?" Kazu said, looking slightly frazzled. He’d been trying to decide how to arrange their seating at the little dinner table in the least embarrassing way possible. "Mom, Satoshi’s going to be here any second."

"Then you’d better run," she said, giving him A Look. He wilted slightly and put the plates down.

"I’ll be right back," he said.

Of course, not three minutes after the door shut behind him, Satoshi was ringing the doorbell. Kazuko put down the spoon she was holding and half-jogged, half-shuffled to the door in a manner that was instantly recognizable to anyone who had seen Nino move across a small space in a hurry. She opened the door and beamed at him.

He blinked, clearly expecting Kazu.

"Um," he said, looking slightly nervous. "Hello."

"Hello!" she chirped at him, waving him inside. "Hurry, I have to get back to the curry."

"Oh, okay," he said. He toed off his shoes in the entryway and followed her back to the kitchen. He paused in the doorway to sniff the air, a gentle smile settling on his face as the scent of good food hit him.

"Good?" she laughed.

"Amazing," Satoshi assured her sincerely. She beamed; he was sweet. She could see how he would appeal to Kazu—there were never enough truly sincere people in the world. Satoshi looked around the tiny kitchen as if he expected a new space to magically appear, before a small frown of confusion crossed his face. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he began to have a mighty, silent internal battle between staying quiet, and asking where Kazu was. She spared him the further trouble.

"We were short on potatoes," she explained, "so I sent him down the street for more. He should be back soon."

Satoshi looked wary. Clever boy, she thought to herself.

"It's so nice to finally have one of Kazu's friends over for dinner," she said sweetly, turning her back to him as she checked the rice in the electric rice cooker. "I never get to really talk with you boys."

"Thank you for inviting me," Ohno said politely. She expected nothing less from Saya's son, of course.

"Of course," she said, still in an overly saccharine tone, "I'd also love to meet the girl he's been seeing."

"Girl?" Satoshi said, and Kazuko could almost feel the look of alarm crossing his face.

"Mm," she said. "He's been seeing _someone_ for a while now, but of course he doesn't tell me anything anymore." She sighed dramatically, throwing a forlorn look over her shoulder at Satoshi, clearly seeking sympathy. "A mother just wants to know her son is seeing a lovely young woman and _happy_."

Satoshi was starting to look genuinely panicked now. If she had to guess, Kazuko would say that he was trying to reign in the sudden, horrifying realization that he had come to dinner with his boyfriend's mother and said mother had absolutely no idea her son was his boyfriend. The resulting scramble to be outwardly as platonic and closeted as humanly possible was making him sweat.

"I just hope he's saving himself for marriage," she added, just for good measure. Ohno turned white as a sheet and clutched at the table cloth with white knuckles.

"O-of course," he said seriously. "I'm sure—if that's what you told him, he's, uh. Definitely."

"I worry of course," she said, waving a spoon. "He's surrounded by older men; what if they lead him astray? _You_ would never lead my Kazu to temptation, would you Satoshi-kun?"

Satoshi's jaw appeared to come unhinged as it flapped wordlessly. He looked like he was going to be sick.

" _Mom._ " Kazu's voice cut into the delicious, _gaping_ silence she had so careful wrought.

"Oh, Kazu!" she said brightly. "Did you get the potatoes?"

Kazu handed her the bag before going to Satoshi's side. Kazu tapped Satoshi on the cheek a few times as if to revive him. Satoshi gave him a wide-eyed look that apparently communicated the level of his terror.

"Mom," Kazu said. He planted a hand on his hip. "You broke my boyfriend."

"Nonsense," she said briskly, washing a potato. "I was merely testing him."

"Testing him!?" Kazu said, his voice going squeaky and indignant. "Why—"

"He showed weakness," she said, turning to wiggle her fingers at her son dramatically. "Like a viper, I struck!"

Kazu looked at her with a bland expression before hooking an arm around Satoshi's waist and steering him into the living room. Satoshi still looked like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and face pale.

"She—she said you're waiting until _marriage_ ," Satoshi said. "Are we getting married?"

"Hush," Kazu said, patting Satoshi on the butt. "She's just jealous."

Giggling to herself, Kazuko went back to preparing dinner. That had been more fun than the time she convinced Masaki-kun that Kazu was actually just a very flat-chested girl! And the time she told Sho-kun that their house was haunted by the ghost of Kazu's evil, dead twin.

She couldn't _wait_ to have Jun-kun over for dinner.

 

When Kazu finally moved out, she was extremely torn. On the one hand, she was proud of him. He made a good living and was moving to a nice apartment in a nice part of town with a shorter commute to work. The fact that he was leaving their derelict neighborhood was sign enough of how successful he'd become. On the other hand, Kaori was practically living with her boyfriend now, and with Kazu gone, the tiny old house would feel much larger and much less warm.

"Did you get everything?" she said as he loaded one last box into the trunk of his car.

"I think so," he said, counting the boxes.

"If you didn't, don't worry," she said quickly. "You can always come back for it. Or if you get hungry, or you're on this side of town. Oh, and if you get sick of course; I'll keep the bed made up so you can just get tucked in right away."

Kazu looked at her with a warm expression.

"Thanks, Mom," he said. "I'll come back all the time if you promise to feed me."

"Sounds fair," she said. She reached out her arms—it still surprised her that he was taller than her, and he had been so for years. He hugged her tightly, with his face in her neck like when he was a tiny, skinny little nip of a kid. For a second, he was still her sweet, shy baby boy.

"I'll also come back if you do my laundry," Kazu said into her neck. In an instant, twenty years came rushing back.

"If you stay the night, I'm charging you rent, of course," she informed him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

He'd be back. It might not be every week; it might not be every month. But he was her boy, and he was a _good_ boy, and so long as he was able, she knew he'd come back to see her again. But for now? She had to let him go.

"Take care," she said, waving as his car pulled away from the house. The car stopped, and Kazu stuck his head out the window.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I love you!"

She smiled, and finally let go.


End file.
